Good Times Gonna Come
by Out Of My Vulcan Mind
Summary: Alyce Jackson had a routine life; hunt, hunt, eat, sleep. It was all in perfect order. Until she met a certain angel. - Follows a close friend of thee Winchesters through season 4 and on. Cas/OC
1. Prologue: A Stormy Night

*_This is my first story to ever be published on fanfiction so I really hope you guys like it. :D This is only the prologue but I'm writing the first chapter right now so it may or may not be up by tonight. Either way enjoy the first chapter of my first story. (:_

Prologue

**A Stormy Night**

Storm's are nasty, _nasty_ things. They make the sky which was previously a beautiful blue - the type that one would imagine the Mediterranean Ocean to be coloured - to a grotesque murky gray - like what one would consider a canal to look like after an extremely intoxicated pedestrian may have puked into one eventful Saturday night-.

It wasn't only the colour change, and it wasn't only the freezing air, the annoyingly strong winds or the rain that seemed to pelt you so hard it appeared that it was trying to break through your skin and leave you with particularly ugly scars. No. It was the surprise attack, the way it sprung out of no where on a nice enough day that you were enjoying out in the garden with a book and a glass of wine. It hit you like a ton of bricks and you made a run for it into the house before you got pelted with hail the size of roast potatoes with your Sunday dinner.

It was storming the night that Angela Jackson was visited by an angel. And no, she hadn't taken an extreme amount of drugs that night so she wasn't particularly stoned yet. It was 1983 and Angela was a hippy. She had given birth to her beautiful little love child - a girl named Alyce Florence Rosalie Cusack Jackson or the far easier option being Aly Jackson. The angel appeared when Samantha was only two months old telling Angela to get her out of there, that demons were coming for her baby. Now Angela believed the angel because Angela grew up in a family of hunters, she hadn't become one herself mainly because she liked peace - she was hippy remember?- therefore the killing of anything, human or not was against her nature. This disappointed her father and Angela moved out aged sixteen and was then known as Angie Moonflower Jackson. Alyce was pretty lucky that her mother hadn't named her while smoking some weed.

The angel hadn't named himself, he just said, "Get her to your brother. _Now_." And Angela did so. She grabbed her baby, ran to her minivan and drove Kansas were her brother, Caleb lived. Once there she ran through the heavy rain and pounded on the front door of Caleb's house, loud music seemed to radiate from it. She had no idea if she was making the right choice by leaving little Aly with her reckless brother but she guessed that she would be safer if she was trained and with someone who was trained to kill demons. She banged on the door again, growing impatient while she shouted Caleb's name and a few other colourful phrases to describe him. She shouted until she was blue in the face and noticed her brother's shockingly - dyed - white hair all messy, he was tired looking like he was asleep. She had no idea how exactly he could have fallen asleep with the amount of noise blaring inside but she paid no attention to it. She handed over her baby wrapped in plenty of warm blankets, shielded from the rain over to her very confused looking brother. "Make her like you," she said before handing him a letter and running off into the rain. Caleb was extremely confused. The music of Echo and the Bunnymen woke Alyce up. She began to cry.


	2. Another Stormy Night

Chapter one

_**Another**_** Stormy Night**

Alyce hated storms, she didn't have any idea why. Weather was something that she had always been indifferent to, like she was with vegetables as a kid. Caleb always prided himself on the fact that no matter what, the little girl he raised would always eat her vegetables without any trouble. But then again, Caleb didn't know how to cook anything that wasn't microwaveable so the Jackson household's diet usually consisted of take out and pizza.

Alyce basically spent her whole life in the passenger seat of her uncle Caleb's car while he hunted down things that go bump in the night and killing them before they could spread anymore fear and death. Alyce was trained since she was five to hunt, kill and fight. Ever since she could remember she was with Caleb for three hours a day training the be the perfect fighter. Tough as nails, Sam always called her. The Winchester's considered her a boy and she didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult. Was being one of the boys ever a good thing? She couldn't figure it out since it was all she had ever been when it came to those two. Alyce had no relations but Caleb in existence. She was never told the details of her mothers death all she knew was that she had loved her despite her sudden death only two months after Aly was born, she had wished with all her heart that she got to meet her but then her life would be completely different, she wouldn't have her friends or Caleb who may as well be her father. But deep down there would always be the need for the mother she had never known.

The rain, by now had increased and if Alyce stayed in her car much longer the storm would be in full swing. Sighing, she grabbed her duffel bag from the passenger seat and using it to cover her head she ran from the car to the front porch of Caleb's house and knocked loudly on the door, Caleb knew how much she hated storms. When she was a kid she would run into his room in the middle of the night during a storm and cowered under the covers. "The things you'll face, baby," he'd say softly to her. "A storm is the least of your worries."

There was no answer at the door so she grabbed the spare key under the pot and let herself in. "Caleb?" she called as she dropped her bag on the floor and shook her soaked hair. The whole house was silent, kinda like a kid's bedroom on Christmas Eve at eleven o clock as they lay still and quiet, waiting for Santa to come. It sounded like that, if it sounded at all. Alyce just guessed it was another hunt, same old.

It was a while since Alyce had last been home, the lights were switched off and an unsmoked cigarette sat in Caleb's ashtray, the curtains closed. She felt like there had been no one here for months. She eyed the living room for a long moment, considering whether or not she should be worried and then pressed her index finger softly on the answering machine, there were about ten messages. The first from four months ago from Sam, he frantically yelled that Dean was gone to hell. He said that Aly was with him and she was fine, and then he was cut off. A few more from Bobby sounding depressed and lonely, he asked Caleb where he was if he wanted to meet for a few beers. The rest were from people she didn't know. By the sounds of it, it seemed that Caleb had been off the map for quite a while. Alyce felt a twang of guilt since she hadn't been in contact with him for several months, going through her own personal hell and depression with her friend being sent to hell. She didn't try any deals since Dean had sat her down one day six months ago and made her promise to keep herself safe. He also specifically told her to keep away from any crossroad's demons. It was hard for her, keeping all those promises and having to watch as Dean was ripped apart by hell hounds. She had to physically move Sam away from Dean's body, she called Bobby to pick him up since Aly couldn't bear to look at the scars, the ripped skin and the open wounds. It hurt a lot and she just wanted to run to Dean's lifeless body. Shake him hard and beg him to wake up, to tell him that he was being unfair. Sam needed him, she needed him. She wanted to call him a dick, slap him but mostly she just wanted him to be alive again. To wrap his arms around her in a hug when she was sad and cheer her up with a joke or two. It had been a hard four months.

Alyce shivered and walked from the room, a yawn escaped her mouth and she suddenly wished that Caleb was there, the storm was freaking her out. He had been wrong, the storm was not the least of her worries, they still scared her even though she would never admit it. As a heavy exhaustion fell over her, Aly dragged herself up the wooden staircase, the old floor boards creaked under every step she made. Eventually she made it to her old bedroom, still exactly how she left it. She fell down on the bed and soon was asleep, dreamlessly.

* * *

Alyce woke up the next day to the buzzing of her phone, she had no idea what time it was but from the looks of the light that shone through her window it was late in the evening. She frowned when she read the number, it was Bobby. She had been hoping it was Caleb, her heart sank a tiny bit. Worry increased a few notches. "Hello?" she answered groggily, that had been the best sleep she'd had in a long time. It was usually a few hours here and there.

"Good morning sunshine," Bobby replied in his usual sarcasm.

"What's up Bobby?" she asked sitting up and running a hand through her hair, she glanced out the window, the sky was darkening. _Bye, bye sleeping routine,_ she thought. _Do I even have a sleeping routine?_

"You need to get to Pontiac, now." He said, she could hear the frown on his face. Something was definitely up. She hated when something was up. This was pretty much the first time she'd spoken to Bobby in a long time. "Astoria Hotel, room 207. Go now." Then he hung up. Alyce stared at her phone, she trusted Bobby so he wouldn't trick her. Right? She decided to go anyway.

* * *

It only took a few hours for Alyce to get to Illinois in her car, she stopped only to grab a burger since she hadn't eaten since she woke up. Soon she was standing in the Astoria in front of a door with a heart shaped wooden plague that read 207. Then she heard shouting and the smashing of glass. She grabbed her gun out of her pocket and burst into the room, she went into shock when she saw Dean Winchester cowering on the ground, glass surrounding him and the most awful ringing noise she had ever heard. Without question, instinct took over and Aly ran across the room to Dean and pulled him from the floor and out the door.

* * *

She couldn't drive straight, her hands shook. Alyce tried to keep her eyes on the road as Dean reassured Sam over the phone. "We're going for a few beers… you got it." Dean had explained everything, he even drank back some holy water and pricked himself with a silver knife to make her feel more at ease. Now they were headed to find what ever it was that had brought Dean back.

"A few beers?" she said in a - shaky - questioning tone.

Dean shrugged on shoulder nonchalantly, he had a cloth pressed to his ear, Alyce was surprised his eardrums hadn't burst. "He'd only try stop us."

Alyce thought about Pamela, her eyes were burnt out by this thing apparently. "Touché," she mumbled making a turn. "How you feeling?"

"Peachy."

"Tell me again why you wanna bring this thing _to _you?" she asked with one raised eyebrow. There was no time for hugs, "I missed you's" or "how was hell's?" they had to get out of that hotel room before they were charged for the heavy duty damage caused by whatever it was that Dean was looking for. "I mean, clearly after Pamela it can hardly be friendly."

"I can't keep running from it 'Al," he frowned, staring out the windshield instead of at her.

Alyce nodded her head, it seemed this thing was intent on contacting Dean. One thing she did know was that there was no way that Dean was facing this basterd on his own.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, Aly didn't bother turning on the radio since she knew it would do no good. She and Dean weren't going to sing along like they used to - often resulting in waking a sleepy Sam -, those days were long gone by now.

Soon she pulled in at an old, abandoned barn. They got out of the car and grabbed all of Alyce's weapons, she took some chalk and an old looking book that belonged to Caleb. It basically held everything she'd ever need to know when it came to her life as a hunter, it was her bible and Caleb passed it down to her when she turned eighteen, his eyes gleaming with pride. She shook the thought out of her head and followed Dean into the barn.

* * *

About a half hour later, Aly was looking proudly at the symbols which she drew all over the walls, they were from hundreds of different religions and she knew the ritual like the back of her hand and hopefully it would drag whatever had brought Dean back's ass to that very barn.

An hour later and nothing, Alyce sat on a wooden table opposite Dean and played with her hands, whistling to amuse herself.

"You sure you did the ritual right?"

"What do you mean am I sure? Of course I'm sure," she snapped back with a glare. Caleb taught her everything she knew, she hated it when people questioned her abilities.

Dean raised his hands innocently before flashing a wide smile causing her to roll her eyes. That man could be childish.

Both Dean and Aly jumped off their tables however, clutching weapons when wind started to blow tiles on the old barn. She walked over to Dean, "Wishful thinking but it could just be the wind," he said, Ruby's knife and a shot gun in hand.

Aly shook her head, that, she highly doubted. "Is it ever just the wind, Dean?" she muttered, her point was proven as the light bulbs above them exploded with sparks and the barn doors slowly opened revealing a human like figure. Dean gently pulled Aly behind him but she edged away, trying to get a look at this creature. They both shot several times as the man - or thing - walked toward them. He didn't even flinch. Once in reaching distance Dean plunged Ruby's knife through his chest but that didn't do anything either, he merely took the knife and dragged it slowly from his chest, he let it fall to the floor.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," the man replied in a deep voice. Aly raised one eyebrow but without thinking she swung at him, without looking he grabbed her raised fist, then he turned to face her. Their eyes locked and for a split second she saw recognition and satisfaction gleam over his but she had never seen this strange man once in her life. Then he raised this index and middle fingers and slowly reached toward her forehead. "Whoa, whoa whatcha doing there?" her eyes widened as she tried to back away, she couldn't get out of his grip it was far too strong. The man merely held slightly tighter to her wrist and then his fingers were against her forehead, she heard whispers in a different language and for a second she swore she heard a soothing voice say, "You'll be okay."

Then everything went black.

_*Well there's the first chapter. I really hope you guys enjoy this story I'll have Aly and Cas meet up properly and talk - stuff like that in probably the next chapter and other chapter's later on. I'll have chapter two up soon, until then please R&R. thanks. :D_


	3. Just Like Clockwork

Chapter 2

**Just Like Clockwork**

_part 1._

When Alyce woke, she was lying in the back seat of her car currently being driven by Dean. She had a pounding headache and there were grey spots impairing her vision. It took a few minutes for her to figure out where exactly she was, it was like she had been asleep for days and weeks. She groaned and sat up, hand to her head. She looked out the window, noticing the still dark sky and that they were obviously headed for Bobby's house. "Ugh. Who was that guy?" she asked tiredly. She felt absolutely exhausted, like all the energy had been drained from her body. She had a feeling that even if her fist had collided with his jaw like she'd intended, it wouldn't even faze him. And all that he had done was press his fingers against her forehead. Dick.

Dean looked at his weak friend through the rear-view mirror and smirked at her, "Took quite a beating back there. Never knew you were such a weakling." Aly reached over and smacked the back of his head, glaring in response. "OW! His name was Castiel, claims he's an 'angel'," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Hmm, Castiel. Well he could grip me tight and raise me from perdition _any day_," she said with a smile.

Dean groaned in disgust, that he did not need to hear. "Unnecessary, please keep your female urges to yourself."

"Wait did you say angel?" she asked leaning forward in her chair. She'd never believed in God, heaven, angels and the likes. She knew that to believe in one you must believe in the other, but with all the bad in the world. Where was the all forgiving father?

"That's what he says," she could hear it in Dean's voice that he didn't believe him and she didn't either.

Alyce sighed and sunk down in her seat, she still felt tired and the next time she saw Castiel – if she ever did – she would have a few words to say. "Where are we going and will there be aspirin?"

"Bobby's and possibly. Probably not."

Alyce sighed and fell back asleep.

Aly woke up in Bobby's. She had no idea what time it was but it was at least light out. The headache was gone now and she found no use for the box of aspirin and glass of water left on the bedside table, obviously left by Dean. There was a note too; _Lay low, checking something out. Be careful. – D_

She frowned, wondering what they were doing and why she had to be careful. It didn't exactly calm the nerves, a note like that especially after what they'd met the night before. In her opinion, someone claiming to be an angel was dodgy and beyond. She shook her head and rolled off the bed, her feet planting firmly on the old wooden floorboards. Bobby's house was nearly as old as Caleb's. She spent a lot of time here, sometimes when Caleb didn't want her to come on a hunt because he thought it was particularly dangerous and he didn't want his little princess getting hurt – she hated when he called her that -, or she was in Bobby's because Caleb went there for tips or locations or some lore. She knew the house inside out so she was glad that Dean had at least dumped her here instead of some place foreign. She grabbed her phone from the coat that had been dropped on the floor when Dean had removed, probably with some effort, and dialled his number. She let the tone ring out and then she was put through to voicemail, she rolled her eyes and dropped the phone on the spare bed she had been sleeping on.

She still felt slightly dizzy, she was actually quite surprised that this 'Castiel' character had this much of an effect on her. Sighing, Aly left the bedroom and headed for the stairs… until she was thrown. Full force. Into a wall. Oh the joys of security.

"HOLY CRAP!" she yelled in surprise as she collided with the wall, she felt something pop out of place to somewhere it probably shouldn't be. She muttered a few colourful words as she crawled up again, it was her arm which popped. She groaned and stood up awkwardly to face whatever it was that had thrown her, weapon or not.

See Alyce seemed to like doing that, being reckless I mean. She seemingly enjoyed facing to some of the most powerful creatures not-known-to-man without any weapon of any kind. Not even a bottle of holy water or the bluntest of knives. She had a serious case of wrong place wrong time syndrome. Don't get me wrong, she always made it out alive… because Dean or Sam or Caleb or Bobby or _someone_ came and saved her. But no one was here to save her now, and what did Alyce do when she had no weapons and no help? Run. Alyce could be badass when she wanted to, but sometimes she seemed like a wimp. She dressed 'nerdy' as Dean called it. Alyce had never dressed in the formal hunter gear. Flannel, flannel and more flannel. She wore braces on her trousers, she had to wear glasses quite a lot and when she wasn't wearing contacts she had a pair of extremely unattractive horn rimmed glasses to wear instead. An everyday Spencer Reid… minus the intelligence of five Einstein's.

People underestimated her, she was skinny and frail looking but she could kick some serious butt. She seemed to remember one conversation that occurred over a couple of beers with the Winchester boys: "Who would win in a fight?" Dean had started, "Buffy or Aly?" and both boys simultaneously said, "Aly."

Now Alyce highly doubted this but she went along with it anyway, pushed her glasses up further on the bridge of her nose and swallowed down some more beer.

She was now having some what of a panic attack when she saw the face of Danny Jameson. A man who had got caught in the crossfire during a hunt. She had never meant to let him die like that; it was the least of her intentions. "Danny," she whispered. "What are you… why are you here?"

Danny looked at her; a smirk lay on his dead, dead lips. His eyes vengeful… angry. "You let me die back there Alyce," he said shaking his head slowly. He walked toward her with slow determination.

"I-I tried," she stammered still mildly surprised to see the man she'd seen die standing before her.

"You tried, you _failed_. You shot and you shot at that demon but it still jumped inside of me and finished me off itself. Blame it on your friend's who held you back all you want, but you're a strong girl… contrary to popular belief. And you could have broken free of his grip easily."

He was angry, Aly could tell by the bloodlust in his eyes and the hardness of his voice. "I'm sorry," she said in a quiet voice. She wasn't sure what else to say.

Danny let out a bitter, vicious laugh, "Well Alyce. Sorry just isn't _good enough_," he shouted and threw her against the wall once more. Then he pinned her down, she kicked, punched and scratched but she couldn't get him off. He was far stronger than she'd initially thought. Well he was dead after all what else was she supposed to think? She gasped as she felt his hand plunge _into_ her stomach, she felt so exposed, naked. She didn't know what it was she felt. Until it stopped.

Danny was pushed off her, she saw a trench coat and an iron bar and then Danny disappeared.

"Castiel?" she whispered in slight shock. She was still not sure how she should feel to see the infamous 'angel' who had caused her a lot of pain all night.

He merely nodded his head and held out a hand to her, she took it and let him pull her up, groaning in pain. He wordlessly pressed his fingers to her head again, she flinched, squeezed her eyes shut expecting the worst but it didn't come. In fact she felt better, the arm previously dislocated found its way back to proper order and the previous bruises miraculously disappeared from her pale skin. Opening her eyes she was met with the sea blue of Castiel's and she bit her lip very softly. "What'd you do?" she asked suspiciously trying to ignore the current invasion of her personal space. She ran her fingers along her previously damaged skin and then along the stomach a hand had fished around in and found everything to be fine. In perfect working order, just like clock work. All it needed was a touch.

"Dean wrote that you were to take care of yourself. That was foolish, you must always carry a weapon with you," he said ignoring her question.

Alyce rolled her eyes, he sounded like Caleb. All protective and the likes. "I don't feel that I need to carry a weapon in this house. It's safe here," she said with a shrug.

Castiel shook his head. "No. No it is not."

*_Sorry guys! Have to make this a two parter because it's late and I wanna get this one up. I won't be writing tomorrow I don't think so the next chapter will be written ASAP. In the meantime, to keep track of me you can follow my twitter __Vulcan_Mind__ for info on stories. Thanks for all your lovely reviews! Oh and did anyone catch the Criminal Minds reference to Reid? ;D_


	4. Can I Call You Cas?

Chapter 2 _part 2_

**Can I Call You Cas?**

Castiel watched Alyce very, very carefully and he didn't have to read her mind to know how much it was freaking her out. Also as he learned that she likes her personal space and _she_ learned that it hurts to punch an angel in the face, she was holding her hand softly, refusing to allow him to heal her.

Alyce was strange, odd. She didn't dress like Dean, Sam or Bobby who he'd been watching for a while now. Right now she was wearing an oversized cardigan with the sleeves pulled up and underneath a t-shirt that said 'Star Trek'… whatever that was. Her trousers were skin tight, they clung to her legs, he wondered how she could possibly walk in such material. It certainly didn't look comfortable. Then her shoes went over these trousers – he suspected her trousers were to tight for them to go under - , they were brown and… leathery. Humans were strange, Alyce was stranger.

She was placing glasses on, wide ones with rather large rims and she was muttering about contacts or something. Maybe she needed to contact someone…

Then she picked up some weird contraption with little buttons and walked out of the room, she didn't lay her eyes on him once. When she walked back inside she was holding a bottle and the thing was pressed to her ear using her shoulder, she muttered angrily into it while she used both hands to open the lid on the bottle. "Dammit, Dean," she half growled. He got the impression that she didn't like being in the dark about things. She took the contraption again and pressed the buttons quite forcibly and this time her eyes widened slightly, she looked relieved. "Sam! Where are you guys?" she asked quite hurriedly. Then she pressed a hand over her mouth and Castiel wondered what was wrong. "Olivia? As in Olivia Lowry?" she looked upset now. Something was wrong with this Olivia and Alyce obviously knew her. "Carl and R.C too? Oh my god."

"Yeah… yeah... I know I'll be fine… ok just hurry back alright? Kay take care of yourselves… you too," she then pressed a button and the thing turned off. Castiel, from what he had observed understood that the thing was a communicative device. Either that or Alyce was stranger than he first thought and enjoyed speaking into inanimate objects.

She sat down on a chair in the room that held lot's of books and he looked at her. He was just standing there, keeping an eye on her just in case. He wondered if he should tell her about the coming apocalypse, she'd find out soon enough what with the Witnesses that were attacking hunters. He suspected that the people she had got so upset about were hunters attacked by Witnesses.

"You know, you can sit down," she said, speaking up for the first time.

Castiel frowned but slowly sat himself down on a seat beside her which stood in front of a large desk that held what looked like hundreds more books.

"So, uh. Are you actually an angel?" she asked him, she turned to sit more comfortably in the chair, wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled them up to her chest.

Castiel nodded, "Yes," he said and Alyce frowned.

"Why did you raise Dean from Hell?" He could tell she had a lot of questions. He was of course willing to answer as long as he didn't let anything… slip. She could never know about the night her mother gave her to her uncle.

"Because God commanded it."

Alyce snorted, "No really."

Castiel frowned, he paused for a moment. Why did so many not believe in the one man who put them here in the first place? Why didn't they have any _faith_?

"It's true," he said slowly. "It was my orders 'Dean Winchester must be raised from Hell' this is my first time back on earth in at least two thousand years." Well, that was a lie. Castiel came back in 1983 to visit Angela Jackson and warn her. He wanted to stay longer and observe human beings but he was called back to Heaven almost immediately, so he thanked his vessel at the time and left. So the only real human interaction he had received was from Angela, though very scared at the time.

He would like to know more about humans…

Alyce raised her eyebrow but said nothing for a moment. She shook her head then, "I dunno, God just seems like a load of bull. Why would he let his creation just… ruin itself like this," she frowned. The world was gone to hell and she knew it. God wasn't real, and she wasn't gonna let some little dude in a trench coat convince her otherwise.

"You shouldn't speak about him like that. He made you," Castiel said quietly, not looking at her.

"No, Cas – can I call you that? – the glory of sexual intercourse and the dodgy condoms of the 80's is what made me," she said in a matter of fact voice. She then stood up and walked out of the room, she came back later with another bottle and set it down beside her rather large shotgun.

Castiel hadn't replied to her last statement because, truthfully he couldn't quite understand it. One thing he did understand though, Alyce Jackson was a strange individual.

Alyce's afternoon was spent reading Bobby's books on lore and trying not to feel Castiel's rather heavy gaze while she did. It was difficult to concentrate on anything with him in the room and she was counting down the minutes until he left her alone again. In all truth, he scared her, he really did. If he was an angel – and that was a big if – well, they're pretty powerful right? She couldn't imagine standing up and fighting him and it going well for her. Also, she really didn't want another headache.

But something that really got her was that he was so _familiar_. She didn't know his face from anywhere, his voice wasn't bringing any recognition… no it was him. Not his appearance. And it was strange because she knew that she never met him before. She knew it.

Her eyes peeped slowly over the tip of the book and she saw Castiel there. Staring at her. Again. She opened her mouth to say something when she heard the bang of a car door outside, she looked to the window and then Castiel. "I'll be right back," she said going to the front door and stepping outside to see Bobby walking toward her, "Where's Sam and Dean?" she asked him as she scanned the front yard for Dean's beloved Impala.

"On their way," he replied. He looked freaked out, "You okay?" he asked her a tone of concern rung high in his voice.

"Yeah- Bobby what the hell is going on? An old friend dropped by earlier," she said referring to the ghost that had almost tried to kill her, until Castiel came along. Which reminded her, he was still inside.

"Ghosts are popping up and taking their revenge on hunters who let 'em die," he said walking past her, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he did. His way of telling her he was glad she was okay. Bobby wasn't big on affection. "How many times did you get attacked?" he asked her glancing around the room.

"Just the once," she said strolling into the library again only to find Castiel gone. She frowned and returned to Bobby once more. "I'm gonna get some more weapons from the car," she said, frowning. She was worried about this ghost thing getting out of hand. If it could get any more out of hand that is.

Bobby nodded at her and she walked outside again into the fresh air, breathing it in like it was her last. She walked toward her '81 DeLorean which Dean teased her endlessly about but she didn't care. In her opinion, her car was 'bitchin'.

She popped open the trunk to reveal her collection of weapons, she grabbed an iron knife, previously Caleb's and loaded up her gun some more. She closed the trunk to see the Impala pulling up beside her.

"Going _Back to the Future_?" Dean asked her in a mocking tone.

"Good to see you too," she muttered sliding her knife into her boot. She saw Sam's bruised face and her eyes widened slightly, "Sam, what happened?"

"Henriksen attacked me in a gas station," he said, frowning.

Alyce shook her head.

"How about you? You're looking fine," Dean pointed out, leaning on the hood of her car.

"Uh yeah, Danny Jameson stopped by, I'm fine though… Cas stopped him before he ripped my stomach out," she said, wondering if she should tell them about the angel's appearance to her. Too late now anyway.

"Cas?" Dean frowned, not sure what she meant. She'd forgotten that it was only a nickname.

"Uh, yeah Castiel. He came by." She scratched her head awkwardly. That was her nature though, awkwardness.

Dean looked alarmed, and he had ever right to be. If Castiel was as dangerous as they thought then why shouldn't he be worried if the angel dropped in on his friend?

"Don't worry, he seems harmless enough," she said shrugging. "Look we should get back to Bobby in case another ghost turns up," she said picking up her shotgun. She didn't like leaving him in there alone for so long.

The boys nodded and started towards the house, Alyce pushed her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose, making a mental note to buy some more contacts whenever she got the chance. They stepped, quietly and carefully through the front door. "Bobby?" she called out when he was nowhere to be found. They got no answer. "He was right here," Alyce murmured softly.

Dean pointed to the stairs, "I'll go, Sammy take outside, Alyce basement. And for God's sake be careful," he said obviously referring to her recklessness. She stuck her tongue out at him. She had her weapons, she was fine.

She turned the knob on the door of the basement and let it open slowly before stepping through, gun cocked. She slowly stepped down each stair, surveying the room. "Bobby?" she hissed. Suddenly she was flying through the air, she hit a wall and fell to the ground, her gun slid across the room.

"Do you let your little boyfriend fight all your battles, Alyce?" Danny's mocking voice rang through her ears as he stepped into vision.

She spat out some blood and tried to stand but Danny hit her in the stomach and she fell to the floor again, groaning. She was desperate to whine 'he's not my boyfriend!' but God that's just embarrassing.

Danny crouched down and grabbed her hair, lurching her forward. "Are you ready to pay the price for what you did to me?" he whispered in her ear. "This may hurt a-"

He was cut off and soon disappeared when Alyce drew her knife through him. "Quit it with the dialogues," she muttered standing up with effort and walking across the room to pick up her gun. As she did, she noticed something for the first time. It was a huge iron door. She stared for a moment but decided she should probably get out of there. A ghost could appear any second.

"So they're all people we know?" Sam asked as Dean handed Alyce a glass of water, she took it gratefully. The taste of blood in her mouth was grossing her out.

"Not just people we know. People we couldn't save. Hey, I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?" Dean said stepping away from Alyce and leaning again a book shelf.

"I don't think so…"

"I saw something on Danny too," Alyce said, biting her lip. She knew he hadn't had it before, she would've remembered. "It was more like a mark or a brand. It was on his hand."

"I saw a mark too, on Henriksen," said Sam.

Bobby asked Sam what it looked like so he got a pen and paper and drew sketch of it. "That's the one," Alyce nodded, standing up to see what Sam had drawn.

Bobby frowned as he looked at the paper, "I may have seen this before. We've got to move."

"Where are we going?" Sam asked.

"Some place safe, you idiot," Bobby said as he picked up a handful of books and led them toward the basement. Alyce had a fare idea where they were going, she knew she was right when Bobby opened the huge iron door she saw earlier and noticed that it was made completely out of iron inside too, there were pentagrams and devils traps too.

"You made a safe room?" Alyce said, eyebrow raised.

"I had a weekend off," Bobby shrugged.

"Bobby," Dean had a look of pure amusement on his face.

"What?"

"You're awesome."

Alyce sat with Sam and Dean at a table made out of, you guessed it, iron. Alyce was impressed with Bobby's panic room. It was pretty awesome, perfect for their lifestyle. She realised how insane it was through that they had to build a panic room made out of iron of all things.

"See this is why I can't get behind God," Dean said suddenly. Alyce looked up, she understood that Dean didn't believe in God but Castiel- well she believed that he was an angel. He was so sincere but his faith in God was just too much.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked him, he wore the same expression as Alyce. Confusion.

"If he doesn't exist, fine. Bad crap happens to good people. That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason - Just random, horrible, evil - I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if he is out there, what's wrong with him? Where the hell is he while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does he live with himself? You know, why doesn't he help?

Alyce listened to what Dean said, she agreed. If God was real, then what was he doing while innocent people were ripped apart and tortured. Why didn't he care? Maybe Cas had too much faith in something that wasn't there.

"I ain't touching this one with at 10-Foot pole. -Found it." Bobby piped in.

"What?" Sam said, looking from Dean to Bobby.

"The symbol you saw - - The brand on the ghosts... yeah? Mark of the witness."

"Witness? Witness to what?" Alyce asked. She'd heard of the witness before… just where was it?

"The unnatural. None of them died what you'd call ordinary deaths. See, these ghosts - They were forced to rise. They woke up in agony. They were like rabid dogs. It ain't their fault. Someone rose them... on purpose."

"Who?"

"Do I look like I know? But whoever it was used a spell so powerful It left a mark, a brand on their souls. Whoever did this had big plans. It's called "the rising of the witnesses." It figures into an ancient prophecy."

"Wait, wait. What – what book is that prophecy from?" Dean asked.

"Well, the widely distributed version's Just for tourists, you know. But long story short - Revelations. This is a sign, boys... and Alyce."

"A sign for what?" Alyce asked.

"The apocalypse."

Bobby found a spell to get rid of the witnesses; it had to be performed in the library though since it required fire. They managed it by the skin of their teeth.

One word, however, kept replaying in Alyce's head as she lay down to sleep that night. The apocalypse.

Alyce woke up to find Castiel sitting on the end of her bed, she didn't remember falling asleep, she didn't feel fully awake either.

"You're dreaming," Castiel said quietly. "You did well today."

Alyce blinked a few times to wake herself up. "Did you just say I'm dreaming?" she asked, picking up her glasses off the bedside table.

Castiel nodded as she crawled over and sat beside him. "Where were you in all this commotion? Aren't you supposed to be helping Dean or something?"

"We had other concerns."

Alyce frowned, by 'we' she assumed he meant other angels. "Is it true?" she asked him, folding her legs underneath her.

"Is what true?"

"That the apocalypse is coming…"

"Yes, the rising of the witnesses is one of the 66 seals," he said turning his head and looking at her for the first time. "Lilith is breaking the seals, she did the spell and rose the witnesses."

Alyse shuddered at the mere sound of her name. "Okay… well what are the seals?" she felt too comfortable around him, she didn't like it. Or maybe it was just because she was dreaming. She had no idea.

"The seals, when they are all broken Lucifer walks free."

"Lucifer? El Diablo Lucifer?" she asked raising an eyebrow. She didn't know what to believe in anymore.

"No, Lucifer is the devil."

Alyce rolled her eyes, apparently angels can't speak Spanish. "So what are the other 65 seals?" she asked him.

"There are hundreds more. That's why you may be fighting a losing battle. Hundreds and she needs only 66."

"That makes me feel better," she muttered.

"They want me back, I'll be in touch," he said solemnly.

Alyce woke up then, it was still dark. 'I'll be in touch'. Did she want that? Castiel was strange, but in a way she liked him. She felt connected some what. She didn't think about too long as she fell back into a dreamless sleep.

_AN. _This is really late! I'm sorry guys but hopefully it's worth the wait? Quite a bit of Castiel in this, there'll be more as their relationship develops. Please review, it's motivation. :3 OH and has anyone seen Inception yet? God I adore that movie so much. xD


	5. Broken Glasses

Chapter 3

**Broken Glasses**

It had been a month or so and still no word from Caleb. Aly had left him several messages on all three phones and she got nothing in return.  
She grew worried, scared that something had happened to her beloved uncle. So she set off in search of him. She didn't bother going back to his house because she knew already what she'd find, so instead she decided to check up on some hunter friends.  
Alyce pulled in to Joshua Michele's driveway, a hunter she had known her whole life. She sat in her DeLorean for a few minutes, breathing heavily and hoping he wouldn't give her the answer she expected. She was terrified that he'd been murdered on a hunt. Caleb was good, but like her, reckless. She stepped swiftly out of the car and started up the gravely drive and knocked on the large door. Minutes later, a large and burly looking man who would have intimidated anyone else appeared in the doorway.  
"Alyce?" he looked quite shocked to see the young woman standing in his doorway. "Is that you?"  
Alyce nodded her head, she looked awfully tired… felt it too. "Hey, Josh," she said throwing him a small smile.  
He instantly pulled her into a huge hug, "Look at you, you've grown up so much! Where's the old man, eh?"  
Many friends referred to Caleb as Alyce's 'old man' or 'father' just because that's pretty much what he was to her. Alyce never really did get over the fact that her mother had just left her there like that. But then again, she never got the full story.  
"Um, well, Josh. That's actually what I came here to talk to you about…" she frowned, obviously Joshua didn't know what had happened to Caleb.  
"Is everything okay?" Josh asked her, concerned.  
"Actually… no. I've been trying to get through to Caleb for about a month now between hunts but uh, still no answer. I was wondering if you had any idea where he was. When you last saw him?" Alyce went on as she walked through the doorway and followed him to the living room where she took a seat even if she didn't plan on staying too long.  
Josh frowned thoughtfully before shaking his head, "Last time I saw him was about five months ago when he called me up for some back up."  
Alyce groaned, she put her head in her hands, quickly becoming frustrated with her uncle's sudden disappearance.  
"Hey, Aly. He'll be ok, you know you'll find him," Josh said softly, reaching over and touching her hands.

Alyce nodded her head. As much as she wanted to break down in tears or cry out for her daddy, there was no way she would. That meant admitting to herself that he truly was lost. Instead she merely gave him a weak smile and stood up, "I better get going," she said pulling the glasses she had hooked onto the front of her shirt and placed them on the bridge of her nose. "Thanks for your help."

Josh smiled and patted her on the shoulder, a hunter's goodbye. She knew she wouldn't see him again for a long time, Josh was a great family friend but a hunter's life was a lonely one sometimes. "No problem, drive safe," he said as she opened the door and stepped out.

"Take care of yourself Josh," she called before shutting the door and walking toward her car.

Alyce visited five more hunters and good friends of Caleb. Each time however, nothing good came out of it. Always the same _haven't heard from him in months_ story. She was beginning to doubt herself, Caleb was in real danger and she had no idea where he was.

As she pulled into the gravely driveway, she pulled into her old home and pressed her head against the steering wheel causing the horn to honk once. She stayed like that for a while, eyes closed and feeling helpless to Caleb. You can imagine she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice right beside her in the car.

"What's wrong?"

Aly looked up to find Castiel sitting beside her, staring at her with wide eyes. She rubbed her forehead from where she'd hit it off the wheel. "Hey stranger," she muttered.

"Stranger? I believe that is when you don't know a person. Did you hit your head to hard?" he asked her, concern at the edge of his voice when he reached toward her forehead.

She dodged his hand and shook her head with a sigh, "It's a greeting, Cas."

"So you do know my name."

"Yes."

"What's wrong?" he asked her again and Aly tried hard not to roll her eyes, he was like dealing with a child sometimes.

"Nothing is wrong," she insisted looking away from him, she was a terrible liar but then again Castiel was naïve, maybe she could fool him.

"You're a terrible liar." Maybe not.

"Caleb's missing," she said sucking in a breath and leaning her head against the leather upholstery of her seat. "He's been gone for months now apparently and because I was off mourning Dean I had no idea." She shook her head, feeling tears welling up but quickly willing them away.

Castiel frowned, he wasn't good with human beings so she could tell. Every conversation they ever had he seemed to be just… stiff all the time. "You mustn't blame yourself. Mourning the death of someone close to you is inevitable," he said as he slowly and very hesitantly placed one gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn't shake him away.

"I should've been there, checked up at least _called_," she said shaking her head. The reality of her uncle being gone was really hitting hard. She'd denied it for so long now saying he was only on a hunt. The hope and possibility of that solution hung somewhere in the back of her mind but for now she really was lost. She had no idea what to do.

Castiel didn't say anything and they sat in silence for a while. She wasn't sure how long but she did know that Cas kept his hand on her shoulder the whole time. He obviously had no idea how to comfort a person but he did seem to do a good job with her.

Aly jumped again when her phone rang but Cas sat still – not to her surprise -. She fished it from the glove box and looked at the number. "Sam?" she was mildly surprised to be hearing from the younger Winchester, they'd spoken not to long ago.

"Hey, Aly," he sounded slightly amused. "You're not doing anything are you?"

Alyce glanced over at Castiel who had since removed his hand from her shoulder and placed it in his lap which he was staring intently at now. "Um… no, no nothing right now."

"You sure?"

"What? Yeah, what's up?" she swallowed and looked away from Cas.

"We may need your help, it's hard to explain," he said, she could hear a smile on his face.

"Alright. Where are you?" she asked, looking out the windscreen to her house, a sad tint in her eyes.

"Rock Ridge, Colorado. Bluebird hotel, we're on the fourth floor." Aly heard a cry of panic from Dean in the background, "Sorry, sorry. First floor… what I forgot?..." his voice sounded further away from the phone, obviously talking to Dean.

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as possible," she said, frowning. Something was defiantly up and she had a feeling it involved Dean.

"Thanks Al, see you soon."

They hung up and Aly looked to Castiel, but to her disappointment, he was gone. Sighing, she threw her phone into the empty passenger seat and set off toward Colorado.

* * *

It didn't take long for Alyce to reach Colorado and by the time she got there, Dean answered the door, a terrified expression on his face. "Oh thank god, you're here!" he exclaimed and pulled her into a suffocating hug.

When she was finally let go, Aly took in a breath and stared at Dean for a moment. "What's going on?" she asked looking from the terrified Dean to Sam who was hunched over the sink, staring at something.

"I have _ghost sickness_,Aly! Can you believe it?" he yelled and walked to the couch and threw himself on it looking like he had at the end of _Titanic_. Absolutely distraught.

Shaking her head she walked toward Sam, "Yeah it's horrible," she muttered patting Dean on the head. "What the hell is ghost sickness and why does it make Dean seem like a girl pms-ing?" she asked him, one eyebrow raised.

Sam let out his famous one laugh and looked at her, "Basically he just gets anxious and scared all the time until eventually… he has a heart attack," he rolled his eyes. "As you can see… he won't be great back up."

Aly nodded, "Wow, how'd he get it?" she asked him.

"It can be passed through a handshake, a cough anything really. Bobby says the infection should clear up if we kill the ghost soon."

Alyce shrugged one shoulder, "Can't be too difficult."

* * *

"THAT WAS SCARY!"

Aly couldn't help but double over laughing, "It was a _kitten_," she exclaimed through her laughter and short breaths.

It took a while but they had managed to get Dean to come with them.

"I guess he could stay out here," Sam said, looking at Dean holding the flashlight protectively.

Aly rolled her eyes, "No he's coming with us, Dean get inside there or ghost sickness won't be the only thing scaring you," she'd said, glaring at him.

Needless to say he came.

The whole hunt went easily enough for them; in fact they no longer needed her since Bobby was coming over to help out so that Aly could go home. At least she got a good laugh from Dean out of the whole thing.

Then she was back outside the front door of Caleb's house. She was about to step out of her car, however, when she saw a figure at the side of the house. Slowly, cautiously she took her gun and stepped quietly out of the car.

She crept to the front wall of the house, heart beating. Wondering if these were the guys who took her uncle or maybe it _was_ her uncle.

Aly peeped around the corner of the wall and frowned when she saw about eight demons all stood in a circle, talking. She quickly whipped her head around again; her heart felt like it was in her throat. If these demons had her uncle, killing them would do no good since they'd most likely lead her to him but then again Alyce was a well known hunter maybe they were after her, maybe they thought Caleb was here.

She decided she may as well defend herself, so pulling herself from her position against the wall, she stepped out and using her perfect aim she held the gun in one hand and shot one of the demons straight in the head. He fell to the ground with an 'UNF' and the demon left the vessel's body.

Then they began to attack. Two came at her at one and she fought them off, shooting both of them, it was a gory sight. Another came from another angle and she quickly dodged that one. She was obviously heading for their leader, he'd have information. Information that she wanted in order to find Caleb. She had just made it when her whole world went dark.

* * *

Castiel had wanted to stay in the car with Alyce, wished he could stay there with her silently as they listened to the wind blow outside. He felt so comfortable around her, unlike with Dean when he felt like they guy just wanted to insult him half of the time. Plus when Castiel didn't understand something, Aly explained it to him and didn't just roll her eyes and change the subject. She fed his love for humanity and craving for more knowledge about it. Plus she had christened him 'Cas'. Castiel knew, without saying it that Alyce Jackson was his friend. And right now he wanted to see her, so getting up off of his place on the bench he went to wait for her where he knew she would always go. Home.

The door to Alyce's car was still open, if you could call it that. Castiel stood studying it. The door appeared to be perched upwards in a way. He would have to tell Aly about this he was sure she wouldn't be too happy at all, she loved her car. And then he saw that the keys were still in and the engine was running. Alyce wouldn't leave it like that. She wasn't irresponsible.

He walked around the side of the house. He saw four bodies lying on the ground, each had gun shots through their heads and he began to panic. He walked further along down the small path and heard something crack underneath his foot. Looking down, he saw Alyce's glasses, cracked in half. Slowly he bent down to retrieve them; his eyes were slightly wide when he looked around. "Alyce?" he called out cautiously, like a child calling for a parent. When there was no answer he placed the glasses in his pocket and went in search of Aly, promising he would find her.

* * *

_SO sorry this is quite late. I've been so busy lately! I really don't like this chapter so sorry if it's very boring. I've noticed my writing getting worse so I'm really sorry if this chapter is hard to understand or absolutely terrible!_

_So I start school tomorrow but it'll be an easy year so hopefully updates will be getting better. I feel some writers block coming on but I do know where I'm going with this story so just hang tight._

_Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! You guys are great, I try to get back to everyone individually so sorry if I missed anyone. Please keep reviewing and favouriting and everything and you all get a hug from me, Aly and Cas. :3_

_P.S; GO SEE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE! It's so great. So great. I am in love with Jay Baruchel!_


	6. Kyle

Chapter 4

**Kyle**

Alyce woke up to find herself immersed in pure darkness. Pain rung throughout her whole body, she shivered in the freezing cold air that hit her body, attacking her all at once. She felt open wounds all over her weak body. She was being held up by shackles and her head was pounding, inside her mouth the coppery taste of blood lingered making her want to throw up.

_What happened_? she thought to herself when a loud voice crashed through her silent suffering. She winced in the sudden loudness of the man's voice.

"Alyce Jackson, so nice for you to finally join us," purred a voice wrapped in venom.

A light was suddenly turned on, brightening the room only slightly, it hurt Aly to keep her eyes open. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Alyce found that she was in a dark and dingy room. It was murky and damp and smelt disgusting. The type of room you would expect a public bathroom on a deserted beach to look like. She tried to hold her breath since the room stank but she wasn't getting very far. Exhaling she looked at the man who had entered the room. He wore an all black suit, his brown hair was slicked back and he was deathly skinny but in a healthy looking way. His shoes were polished perfectly and he wore a malicious grin as he looked at the fragile hunter.

"Who are you?" she choked out, wincing at the sound of her crackly voice, she wondered how long she'd been stuck there since it felt like she hadn't spoken in days and she was _starving_. All she could remember was killing a bunch of demons and then blacking out.

"Now, now Alyce. Let's not be so rude," said the man. He pulled a small table into view with knives, syringes and other stuff that looked pretty painful. "My name," he said walking toward her with a particularly deadly looking knife in hand. "My name is Jude," he said looking up to reveal black eyes. He then wiped the blade on his suit trousers and ran the knife down her cheek. She felt blood spill out and drip down her face and onto her neck. She tried not to wince or move away from him but she couldn't help it. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was hurting her but the truth was that he really was.

"What do you want from me?" she hissed spitting some blood onto the ground. She hated the taste of blood in her mouth more than anything in the world. She had a feeling that she'd been beaten to a bloody pulp while she was unconscious.

"Really, I just wanted to finish my collection of Jackson's with a bang. You're the last female Jackson in existence… well at least I think. Unless that pathetic excuse for a mother of yours shows up again," Jude said with a smile.

"What are you talking about?" she asked feeling sick. The fact that he'd said collection made her want to vomit.

"I was just getting to that," he said making a long, deep cut down her arm causing her to suppress a painful scream. "Let's go from the beginning. I got my first, your mother in 1983. we had some fun if you know what I mean," he said winking at her. "I should've taken you too Aly but unfortunately your mother was given some… _information_ and you got to your uncle's house safely," he said resting the blunt side of the knife gently against her face with a twisted grin. She didn't have time to wonder what information her mother was given when Jude ran the knife down her body and stopped at her legs before digging the knife into her thigh and running it down the rest of her leg. This time she screamed out. The pain, the frustration and the anger was too much. Jude looked satisfied.

"And that brings us on to Uncle Caleb," he continued, grinning wildly. "While Dean Winchester was in hell, I saw my chance. I knew how close you were with that obnoxious idiot so I snatched Caleb up as quickly as I could… then I just had to wait for you to come find him."

Alyce felt nauseous. It was her fault that her uncle was kidnapped, god only knew if he was alive. She'd search high and low for him either way. That was if she actually got out of this alive which she knew was highly unlikely. She found herself struggling against the shackles; tears welled up in her eyes as frustration came over her.

"Awww, is little Alyce gonna cry?" he taunted, coming close to her face and making puppy dog faces, teasing her and waving the knife, slowly over her, coming awfully close to her face. The kinda close that makes oneself feel very uncomfortable, like when Castiel appears and suddenly all personal space goes out the window.

Alyce fully expected/hoped that Dean or Sam to run through the door any second now. Maybe Bobby or even Cas. But this time it was different, Alyce was alone, no one would come save her. Alyce was going to die. Alyce knew it. She didn't want to die, but it was inevitable by now. The only person who could possibly find her… burst through the doors at that very second. Eyes full of fury.

**~Castiel's Eyes~**

Alyce was quite fascinated by Castiel's eyes. Sure the organ's themselves didn't belong to the angel, but to the man – Jimmy Novak. No Aly didn't get off staring at people's eyeballs. They weren't what had her so obsessed and at some point even frightened her. Nope. It was the knowledge; all that Cas had seen and done was reflected into the look in his eyes. The only thing that was truly him in this stranger's body. She pitied her angel friend sometimes; he was trapped in a human body with hardly any way to express himself whilst feeling little to no emotion.

Alyce shut her eyes with a little squeak as the sun from outside shone through the door from which Castiel entered. It filled the previously dark room with light, something which felt like Aly hadn't seen for days.

She could hear the "oofts" and the "ughs" from the fight but it all seemed to be pouring out of Jude's vessel's lips. It didn't hurt Cas and that gave her comfort. Her eyes stayed squeezed shut but she could hear the horribly familiar sound of a demon leaving it's vessel's body. The ear shattering scream like nails against a chalkboard. Unpleasant is the key word.

"Alyce," Castiel's gruff voice muttered as she felt her shackles being undone, as the last one was unbolted, Alyce fell forward with an exhausted groan. Castiel held her up though where she laid her head on his shoulder. The pain she should be feeling was overwhelmed by her exhaustion. "Let's get you home," he said softly into her ear. Well, as softly as said angel could.

"No… n-n-no. Caleb… Caleb's here," she mustered out as Castiel looked down at her in puzzlement. "We have to find him. He's here, in the house… somewhere," she said, it sounded more like a whimper. Probably because the pain was beginning to form at top speed. Alyce had no idea what Jude and his asshole demon friends had done to her while she was unconscious and she didn't _want_ to know. But man… if she got her hands on them.

"I'll come back for them," Cas said shaking his head. "You're too tired, you need rest."

"Jude might come back for them," she protested, weakly. "Please Cas," she whispered, looking up at the angel with pleading eyes. Her uncle was here and dead or alive he was leaving this place with her.

Castiel frowned at her but finally he nodded, "Alright," he said manoeuvring so that he could support her weight and get them out of there easily.

He moved toward the door that led from whatever room they had previously been in to one that looked kind of like what a normal person would call a living room. This one however was more luxurious than most – please note the sarcasm -. The room was disgustingly grey and bleak. The word that most sprung to Alyce's tired little mind was _dead_. It looked like at one point this particular room had been on fire and someone forgot to wash the ash off the floor and paint the walls back to life. There was a sofa with one big hole inside it and a staircase that went upstairs and… down?

Aly pointed at the staircase, "It goes down," she said and Castiel walked towards it, carrying the frail hunter along with him as if she weighed next to nothing. He carried her down the stairs and through another door, it wasn't guarded. Jude's demons must have left when they heard the commotion. No demon, despite how cocky it may be would ever go head to head with an angel.

Down the stairs and through the door, to Aly's complete surprise – and horror – it seemed to be a prison of some sort. She stared at the rows of cells and cowered away, her face unwillingly plunging itself helplessly into Castiel's neck when she noticed a skeleton of all things in the first cell. The smell was disgusting.

Then they heard a noise.

Alyce caught her breath in her throat.

"Hello?" a voice called out, a voice that sounded strangled, hoarse and dry.

"Caleb?" the voice was noticeable to Alyce. Her heart began to ram against her rib cage at full speed.

"Aly?"

Suddenly, Alyce regained the energy which had been stolen from her, the pain washed away and she was running toward a cell near the end. She came to a stop and in an instant Castiel was behind her looking sombre but concern was evident in her eyes.

She was down on her knees, she saw her uncle sitting there, his eyes lit up with new found hope. He took her pale hands through the bars and grinned, "I knew you'd find me," he whispered, happy tears seemed to fill his eyes as he looked at the pale face with blood smeared all over it.

Alyce smiled at him, she opened her mouth to speak until she noticed the figure sitting near her uncle. He looked scared he looked… familiar. "Who's this?" she asked, her eyebrows rose in surprise that someone else was in the same cell.

"This is Kyle," said Caleb, looking back at the boy. He had a smile on his dishevelled face.

The boy – Kyle smiled and nodded at Aly.

* * *

Castiel brought them home, Kyle too. He went on to heal Alyce since she was still losing blood even though she was seemingly oblivious to this minor fact. She was too busy fussing over Caleb and their guest. She watched as Castiel healed her and sighed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her flatly.

"Nah it's just… I loved this cardigan and well, it's all bloody and ripped. I think they took my suspenders too," she said, biting her lip.

Castiel just looked at her as he continued to heal her extensive injuries.

* * *

He went on to heal both Caleb and Kyle; she then sat down on the couch in Caleb's front room, across from her uncle and Kyle. Castiel who had been hovering around awkwardly then took a seat beside Alyce. A cup of tea in her hand. Coffee like always for Caleb and water for Kyle. The both of them had already devoured the Chinese food that Alyce had ordered.

"So um, Kyle. Are you a hunter?" she asked the frail looking boy who shook his head quickly.

"No but Caleb told me all about them," he said, nodding his head. He looked at Aly's uncle with admiration.

Alyce raised her eyebrows, "… oh," she said. Aly wondered why he looked at Caleb like that, sure they'd been stuck in that cell for god knows how long together but still… it was just strange.

Caleb set his coffee mug down and looked at Aly then Castiel, then Aly again, "Al there's something you should-… who's this?" he asked, stopping mid-sentence when he looked quickly back at the mostly silent Castiel, he'd been watching Alyce carefully for a while now. Of course the mysterious man had healed Caleb of his injuries but for some reason he hadn't thought to ask who it was that was laying his hands upon him.

"This is Cas… Castiel. He's an angel," Aly said shaking off the topic with a wave of her hand. "What should I?" she asked him, urging her uncle on with the sentence.

Caleb looked confused but tore his gaze from the apparent angel to his niece with a troubled look on his face. He had no idea how to say it, drop the bomb on her. "Kyle is your… Kyle's your brother Alyce."

Aly stared at Caleb, then at Kyle and then at Caleb. It made sense, he looked like her. Jude said he was 'collecting Jackson's' but… who was the father. Alyce's father was a walk-out. She'd never seen him once in her life. Not to mention that her mother was _dead_. She stared at her 'brother' he stared right back with wide eyes. "How?" she whispered, still staring at Kyle.

"Your mother has been alive all these years," Caleb said slowly. Sixteen years ago, Jude raped your mom and Kyle here is the result." Caleb looked down, afraid to look his niece in the eye.

Aly's eyes welled up, her mother was raped. Her mother was _alive._ But where? She stayed quiet for a long time, unsure what to say. She had a brother. She'd always wanted a brother, ever since she'd known Sam and Dean she envied them so much. Always bullied Dean because he let his little brother, Sammy go so easily. She finally had a brother. They both stared at each other, but Alyce nearly jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang.

Wiping her wet eyes, she quickly stood up. "I'll be right back."

**~Emotional Alyce~**

It was just a little out of character for Alyce Jackson to get all emotional.

She tended to be happy-go-lucky and _very_ socially awkward. So of course when her assumed-to-be-dead uncle told her that she had a brother and that her also-assumed-to-be-dead-mother was actually very alive, well… you can understand why the girl got so emotional, yes?

She opened the door to find the huge, broad figures of Sam and Dean Winchester standing in her doorway. She instantly threw herself at them, hugging them both in turn. They looked shocked of all things.

Dean took her by the shoulders and held her at arms length. "Oh thank god," he said and hugged her tiny body again.

Apparently he knew.

* * *

It took a few hours for Alyce to wrap her head around it all. Bobby came by; he brought beers for them all. Castiel refused to take one, however. They all welcomed Kyle into the family fairly well, which was a relief. It was going to take a while for Aly to get used to it. She decided to take him under her wing. She'd always wanted a brother and now she finally had one.

"I have to leave," Castiel said for the first time in a while. "My superiors are calling."

Dean – who was feeling rather tipsy – wrapped an arm around the angel's shoulder and asked him to stay. Cas looked quite awkward.

"Let him go, Dean," Alyce said pulling Castiel away from her almost-drunk friend. "I'll walk you out," she said looking up at him. Cas nodded.

As they walked toward the door, Sam and Bobby said their goodbyes and Caleb and Kyle thanked the angel. Because, let's face it. If it wasn't for him, they would still be in that cell. Alyce almost shuddered at such a thought. Dean wolf-whistled when Castiel walked out the door, Alyce threw him a middle finger when she walked out after him.

She shut the door and wrapped her arms around herself in the new, cold air. She smiled up at the angel, he smiled back.

"Thanks," she finally said. She owed him her life, Caleb and Kyle's too. If it wasn't for Cas she wouldn't have a brother. She wouldn't have her uncle back.

Castiel nodded.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment. Castiel was about to speak when Aly wrapped her arms around him, finally letting herself cry. She didn't know why, she didn't cry very often but, well. She was just too emotional that day.

Cas wasn't sure what to do but eventually he wrapped his arms, slowly around Alyce's small frame. He squeezed her a little and let her cry very silently onto Jimmy Novak's trench coat. "Thank you," she whispered again. Grateful that the angel had come for her. That he had cared.

"I have to go," he said.

Alyce nodded and let go, she wiped her eyes and smiled at the angel once more.

And then he left with the ruffling of wings.

**SO SO SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE! I've been quite busy lately with school and what-not. Plus I wrote up about a million versions of this chapter so yeah, it took a while.**

**Nobody reviewed that last chapter. I'm not the type of person who needs a certain amount of reviews to continue but I really, really do need your feedback. To let me know how I could improve and if you like it so please review. (:**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! There may be spelling mistakes, I didn't get enough time to proof read. So sorry! **


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